The present invention relates to an apparatus for dispensing viscous liquid from a flexible viscous liquid containing bag as well as the flexible bag itself, and more particularly, to a dispenser for viscous liquid food products which may be heated, such as cheese.
In the food service industry, it is often desirable to serve viscous food products which may be served at room temperature, such as ketchup, or which may be served at an elevated temperature, such as a cheese for nacho chips or other foods. It has been known to provide such products, including cheese, in flexible bags. The product must then be somehow dispensed or warmed and somehow dispensed from the bags. Numerous systems have previously been employed for dispensing food products. One prior known apparatus utilized a flexible container having a separately attached dispensing fitment for dispensing the food product. A hose is provided on or attached to the fitment and engaged in a peristaltic pump in order to pump product from the container. However, utilizing such an apparatus leaves a substantial amount of food product in the container which is not dispensed and is eventually disposed of when the majority of the food product has been dispensed from the container. Such systems often have waste rates of ten to fifteen percent or more of the food product which is not dispensed from the container and often require threading the hose from a new bag through the pump arrangement which adds complexity to both the mechanism as well as the task of replacing the disposable food product container.
Another known system utilizes a hanging bag which is suspended generally vertically in a heated chamber. A hose is connected to a fitment located on the bag and is pinched off by an xe2x80x9ciron utterxe2x80x9d clamping apparatus to control dispensing. Gravity influenced squeeze bars which are located a fixed distance from one another are placed over the bag to move cheese toward the bag outlet fitment for dispensing. While this provides an improvement in the amount of cheese dispensed from the flexible bag container, some of the cheese food product remains in the bag due to the fixed distance between the bars.
It would be desirable to provide a dispenser and a flexible bag for use in connection with such dispenser which provides for both simple operation and is reliable in use for dispensing substantially all of a viscous product from the flexible bag, and in particular for dispensing all of a viscous food product from the bag. The dispenser and apparatus also preferably provide for more economical packaging and dispensing of the viscous liquid product.
Briefly stated, the present invention provides a dispenser for dispensing a viscous liquid from a flexible viscous liquid containing bag having a dispensing opening. The dispenser includes a support plate. The support plate is adapted to support the flexible viscous liquid containing bag. A squeegee carriage having a squeegee attached thereto is also provided. The squeegee carriage is mounted for movement from an initial, upper position downwardly along the support plate to a lower position. The squeegee is adapted to press the flexible viscous liquid containing bag against the support plate to squeeze the viscous liquid from the dispensing opening.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a dispenser for dispensing a viscous liquid from a flexible viscous liquid containing bag having a dispensing opening. The dispenser includes a support plate positioned at an angle of approximately 90xc2x0 or less. The support plate is adapted to support the flexible viscous liquid containing bag. A squeegee carriage having a squeegee attached thereto is also provided. The squeegee carriage is mounted for movement from an initial, upper position downwardly along the support plate to a lower position by gravity acting on the squeegee carriage. The squeegee is preferably oriented generally horizontally and is adapted to press the flexible viscous liquid containing bag against the support plate to squeeze the viscous liquid from the dispensing opening.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a combination of a dispenser for dispensing a viscous liquid food product from a flexible viscous liquid containing bag and a flexible bag containing the viscous liquid food product. The dispenser includes a support plate. A squeegee carriage having a squeegee attached thereto is also provided. The squeegee carriage is mounted for movement between an initial, upper position downwardly along the support plate to a lower position. The squeegee is adapted to press against the support plate. The bag comprises two flexible sides connected together around a periphery of the sides. The periphery includes a top edge, a bottom edge and two side edges. The bottom edge includes an integrally formed spout formed by the flexible sides with an outlet opening defined on a free end thereof. The dispenser further includes a connector for connecting the bag to the support plate such that the bag is supported by the support plate with the bottom of the bag including the integrally formed spout located in proximity to the bottom of the support plate. The squeegee presses the two flexible sides of the bag against one another and the support plate as the squeegee carriage moves downwardly from the initial, upper position to squeeze the viscous liquid food product from the outlet opening.
The present invention also provides an integral nozzle flexible bag for storing and dispensing a viscous liquid. The bag includes two flexible sides connected together around a periphery of the sides. The periphery includes a top edge, a bottom edge and two side edges. The bottom edge includes an integrally formed spout formed by the flexible sides. The bottom edge of the bag further includes two seam lines which extend inwardly from the side edges and downwardly toward the bottom of the bag. The angled seam lines terminate at medial positions spaced apart from one another to define a spout entrance. Two downwardly extending spout forming seam lines extend from the terminating medial positions of the angled seam lines to define the integrally formed spout. A spout closure seam line is defined along a bottom of the spout.